Current status of Japanese thermal power plants and life assessments of high temperature steam and gas turbine components

More than 80% of prime energy is now supplied by thermal power plants in Japan since the Great East Earthquake of 2011 and more than two thirds of them were operated for over 30 years. Evaluation of the residual life of those aged plants are, therefore, required to maintain reliability and also to avoid premature retirement. Several kinds of life assessment technologies for the high temperature components of aged steam and gas turbines have already been developed and applied to actual components. Further developments for the advanced ones are now still being conducted. The current status of Japanese thermal power plants is briefly overviewed and the life assessment technologies developed for evaluating the material degradation and component damage conditions and life extension capabilities of steam and gas turbines are explained with some examples of the applications. The differences between the development concepts and the methods developed for both turbines are also explained along with those of the design specifications.